The hidden cost of wildfires: Economic valuation of health effects of wildfire smoke exposure in Southern California

There is a growing concern that human health impacts from exposure to wildfire smoke are ignored in estimates of monetized damages from wildfires. Current research highlights the need for better data collection and analysis of these impacts. Using unique primary data, this paper quantifies the economic cost of health effects from the largest wildfire in Los Angeles County's modern history. A cost of illness estimate is $9.50 per exposed person per day. However, theory and empirical research consistently find that this measure largely underestimates the true economic cost of health effects from exposure to a pollutant in that it ignores the cost of defensive actions taken as well as disutility. For the first time, the defensive behavior method is applied to calculate the willingness to pay for a reduction in one wildfire smoke induced symptom day, which is estimated to be $84.42 per exposed person per day.     

Risk and the public service manager

The Department of Social Security's discussion document on equalizing state pension age is examined and put in context. The authors conclude that it takes too narrow a view of the equality issue, and argue for a more radical reappraisal of state pension provision for the 21st century.     

Optimised asset replacement strategy in the presence of lead time uncertainty

This paper develops an optimal replacement strategy for capital intensive equipment with long delivery lead time. The strategy is based on an extended version of the real options approach to repeated replacement decisions, in which the goal is to determine the operating cost and delivery lead-time conditions upon which a replacement should be ordered.The real options approach to capital replacement problems is superior to traditional net present value (NPV) approaches, as it values of the option to adapt decisions based on current (rather than predicted) system conditions. However, previous applications of the real options approach to repeated replacement have not considered the impact of long and uncertain lead times, and have therefore focused on when to replace rather than when to order. Delivery lead times are an important consideration in an expanding mining sector in which demand for heavy mobile equipment (HME) exceeds the capacity of suppliers to provide the equipment in a timely manner.The inclusion of a lead time element results in a decision with an “option” period and an “option-less” period. Simulations are used to demonstrate the improved outcome of real options based replacement strategies compared with those derived using a traditional NPV approach, both with and without lead times. Further the performance of the order placement strategy with different boundary conditions, bounded and reflecting, is explored. No appreciable difference in performance of these strategies was identified. The optimal order placement strategy incorporating delivery lead times is displayed on a simple chart which is accessible to fleet management personnel.     

Globalization and the Corporations: The Case of the California Fortune 500

This article argues that there is a genuine process of globalization taking place among the Fortune Global 500 corporations domiciled in California. Globalization is assessed in terms of four criteria: (1) foreign direct investment; (2) benchmarking and world best practice; (3) global corporate citizenship; and (4) global vision. The study is based on interviews in ten of the fifteen Global 500 corporations in California, plus one private corporation with comparable revenues. The interviews focused on the uses and meanings of globalization in corporate vocabularies and practices, and the salience of these four criteria. The interview findings and company, business press and scholarly publications provide substantial support for the thesis that a genuine process of globalization is taking place, even if it is more advanced in some corporations than others, and that this globalization has important effects on local and regional economies. Cet article maintient qu'un processus réel de globalisation est en train de prendre place parmi les 500 compagnies globales Fortuneétablies en Californie. La globalisation est évaluée par quatre critères: (1) l'investis-sement étranger direct; (2) les points de repère et la meilleure pratique dans le monde; (3) la citoyenneté corporative globale; et (4) une vision globale. Cette étude est basée sur des entrevues conduites dans dix des quinze compagnies globales 500 en Californie et dans une compagnie privée ayant des revenus comparables. Les entrevues portaient sur l'utilisation et la signification de la globalisation dans le vocabulaire et les pratiques des compagnies et sur l'importance de ces quatre critères. Les résultats de ces entrevues, la presse commerciale et les publications académiques apportent un soutien considérable à la thèse qu'un processus réel de globalisation est en train de se produire – bien qu'il soit plus avancé dans certaines compagnies – et que cette globalisation a des effets important sur les économies locales et régionales.     

Setting multinational industrial marketing strategies

Nations of the world are striking out, from various starting points, along a variety of new development paths, reflecting a widespread repudiation of the conventional economic model of development based on a common, predetermined roadway to progress. Marketers who are bound by tradition may perceive the alternative development approaches as threats to standardized marketing strategies. Innovative marketers will view them as important keys to expanded market opportunities throughout the world.     

Liberalization and the growth of business‐led R&D: the case of India

Firms and organizations in India have responded to market reforms, liberalization and globalization by improving efficiency, importing technology and by increasing in‐house R&D. This paper highlights some of the evolutionary changes that have occurred since India undertook sweeping reforms in July 1991 to open its economy to foreign participation and competition. Although some authors, such as Forbes (1999), have looked at the impact of the liberalization on India's R&D and innovation, they missed a number of dimensions that have far‐reaching implications for the process of technological capability development in India. Using the concept of technological capability, this paper makes a contribution to the discourse on the changing R&D and innovation scenario in the face of on‐going liberalization in India. It concludes with three case studies, which illustrate some of the recent changes made by industrial organisations.